Overdose Rates Fall In NM

The New Mexico Department of Health is reporting a nine percent drop in drug overdoses in 2015.

A nine percent drop means about 50 fewer people died from overdoses in 2015 than the year before.

That’s good news, especially since New Mexico leads the country in overdose rates.

"The challenge though, is to make sure this is a sustained drop, to make this a trend," said Dr. Michael Landen, state epidemiologist for the New Mexico Department of Health. He added that the recent drop comes after years of overdose rates remaining steady.

"We’re essentially at a plateau right now, and so we’re hoping to break out of that plateau with lower rates," he said.

The health department’s data is still preliminary at this point, but Landen says tightening of laws around prescription opioids at the federal level could be behind the recent decline in overdoses here. And the DOH is hoping state laws, including one making the opioid overdose-reversing drug Naloxone more available, will mean the rates will fall again next year.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that the decline in overdose rates includes overdoses from all drugs, not just opioids. We apologize for the error.

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Ads raising awareness about the overdose-reversing drug naloxone will be appearing on the sides of buses around Albuquerque. It’s available over-the-counter now—but only at pharmacies willing to carry the medication.

New data from the Centers For Disease Control conclude that nationally, overdose deaths among women have been on the rise since 1999; and that since 2007, more women have died from overdoses than motor vehicle-related injuries.

However, officials in New Mexico say those trends are nothing new in the state.